Folding- life-boat



Mgt-359i u e L m m HVJ Mllw MMVI l? a /Z ,fw M/ .f I @Ww HENRY MARTIN, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

FOLDING LIFE-BOAT.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 23,595, dated April 12, 1859.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, Hanni' MARTIN, of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and improved Folding Boat; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l, represents a longitudinal vertical section of my invention, the line fr, Fig. 3, indicating the plane of section. Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical section of do, the plane of section being indicated by the line y, y, Fig. 3, and Fig. 3, is a plan or top View o o.

Similar letters of reference in the threefigures indicate corresponding parts of my boat.

This invention consists in hinging to the upper surface of the keel the bottom boards to which the seats are attached by hinges, and to its (the keels) sides the ribs in such a` manner that one half of the same folds toward one side and the other half toward the other side and that the same when turned u p, support the gunwale bars which are hinged to the stern and to the bow of the boat, and that they (the ribs) keep a water proof cover. which is attached to the gunwale bars and to the keel, in an eX- panded state together with air chambers, which are arranged one in the bow and the other in the stern of the vessel and which are attached to two of the ribs by means of eyes or loops and which when released from these ribs fold up in the manner of bellows the whole being` so arranged that the seats together with the bottom boards fold up, and that the ribs can be turned down one half toward one side and the other half toward the other and that the gunwale bars can be folded down so as to lie flat against the keel, so that the boat, when those are folded up, takes up little room and that the samel when expanded serves as a life-boat by reason of the two air chambers and at the same time it offers comfortable sitting room by means of the seats which are attached to the bottom boards.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand use and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, is the keel which is turned up at both ends so as to form the bow B, and the stern C. of the boat. Attached to the top of the keel and covering the central part of the same are the bottom boards D,by means of a rod (z, which is rigidly attached to the keel and which passes through a series of hinges which are fastened to the bottom boards.

E, are the seats which when in a horizontal position, are supported by foldin r legs c, and which are hinged to the bottom boards by means of rods (Z, which pass through loops e, at the ends of the seats and through hinges c', which are secured to the lower surface of the bottom boards D, as clearly represented in Fig. 2. Each of the seats consists of two parts, and the two parts when in a horizontal position, are united by a clove-tailed projection (Z, which is attached to one of the parts and which fit-s in a corresponding recess d, in the other part, so that both the parts are supported by the same leg c, which is secured to one of the parts of each seat. 1

The bottom boards, when unfolded, rest against the ribs F, which are secured to the sides of the keel by means of hinges f, in such a manner, that one half of the same folds toward one and the other half toward the other side, one on the top of the other and close u'p to the keel, and the bottom boards are provided with slots 6*, which fit over the several ribs so that the latter, when the bottom boards are unfolded, are prevented from moving laterally. These ribs serve to support the gunwale-bars Gr, which are hinged to the bow B, and to the stern C, and a water-proof cover H, which is secured to the outside of the gunwale-bars and to the under side of the keel is kept expanded by the ribs, when the same are turned out so as to support the gunwalebars. The two middle ones of the ribs are cut out so as to form projections j, (see Fig. 2) which fit under short bars f, which are rigidly attached to the under side of the gunwale bars, and by these means the position of the gunwale bars is strengthened against any pressure which has a tendency to expand the same in the middle. i

I, I, are two air chambers which are attached one to the stern and one to the bow of the boat in such a manner that they fold up like a pair of bellows, and hinged to the outer edges of these chambers are the eyes or loops which lit over pins j, attached to two of the ribs F, so that by hooking these loops over the pins the air chambers are kept in an expanded state, but if unhooked they can be collapsed. In order to fold the boat the seats are first turned up and the bottom-boards are folded together so as to come in a vertical position, the air chambers are unhooked from the ribs to Which they are attached by mea-ns of the loops z', and the ribs are turned down so as to lie flat against the keel, one half of them toward one and the other half toward the other side as above described, and the gunWale-bars are turned down so as to lie close up tothe keel, and by this operation the air chambers are compressed and the Whole boat can be stowed away Without taking up much room. At the same time it .is Very easy and it takes but a few minutes time to fix the boat up ready for use.

I do not claim of themselves either the hinged or pivoted ribs or the hinged gun- Wale-bars, but

7 hat I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

The Within described arrangement of the ribs, one half of which fold toward one and the other half toward the other side in combination With the hinged bottom boards D, which by means of slots 6*,secure the ribs in an upright position and Which are provided With seats E, which are hinged to the bottom boards by means ot' rods d, and Which are connected by the dove -tailed projections ZQ-the'whole being constructed and operated substantially as and for theV purpose set forth. i

HENRY MARTIN. Vitnesses:

A, MCBRIDE,

WM. MCBRIDE. 

